Unpaid Invoice

davec9313

Hi guys,
Looking for some advice.

My wife did some freelance work for a Dublin based company over 2 months ago... Upon completion of the work, my wife produced an invoice for the work which under the terms of was to be paid within 28 days.
Still with no payment, my wife resent the invoice last week for payment and has heard nothing yet.

She is planning on ringing them tomorrow to try and sort this out... If she is unsucceessful tomorrow, where are the next steps she should take to get her money ?

Thanks a million

Gloomtastic!

There are three reasons why companies don't pay invoices:
1. Inability
2. Inefficiency
3. Company Policy

First of all you need to find out if they have the invoice. Then find out who is reaponsible for paying invoices, when they will be paying the invoice and how they will be paying it.

Never get off the phone until you have a definite answer to any of the above questions. 'Can I get back to you?' is not an acceptable answer.

The fastest way of ensuring payment is going into the office and picking up a cheque, call them up and say you're in the area tomorrow, can you pop in and pick up a cheque?

If they start giving you the runaround then you may need to go down a legal route. The most important thing to do is if you say you are going to do something then you must follow it through. Failure to do this will mean they won't believe any threat you make and delay payment further.

Best of luck!

flash harry

gllomtastic is pretty spot on here.

Sounds like you aren't used to doing this however - she should have been on phone prior to day 28 to confirm when it would be ready.

A lot of AP people will just pay whoever is contacting them the most unless they are swimming in cash.

Ring and ask when it is scheduled for payment. Dont ask if they have it or anything else. If accounts do not have it email it straight away, phone back "when will it be ready for collection"

If they say end of month, 2 weeks etc then I would recommend sucking it up and saying I'll colledct it that day - call 2 days before to confirm you will collect.

Any BS from that point is BS.

gavney1

Anyone notice an increasing number of these types of threads lately? Sign of the times I suppose

Having worked accounts payable myself OP, agree with Gloomtastic for reasons you've not been paid.

Whatever the reason, only way to get them to notice is to ring them. Letters are easily ignored. Get in contact with them and ring every day. Sometimes it's just a matter of getting yourself to the top of a long list of creditors.

Also make sure the CORRECT person has the invoice. I know from our company's point of view, we're often contacting suppliers repeatedly looking for an invoice so we can pay, but get no reply. Then a couple weeks later, we get an angry letter from the supplier looking for payment for same invoice. We need a copy of the invoice to pay it!

More likely though that they are either inefficient or are strapped for cash. They've gone way over their terms though by the sounds of it, so you need to keep ringing them

Kosseegan

You can start a criminal action on the basis of the Theft & Fraud Offences ACT 2002. Don't forget the Late Payments Directive as well.